Articles

ID SB 1317: Enforcement and Collection of Fees

April 14, 2016 | By: Jeremy Evans

Does your association diligently enforce its covenants and restrictions? Do you ever incur costs or attorney fees in doing so?

On April 5, Governor Otter signed Senate Bill 1317 as amended into law. Under 1317, there is a significant risk that a debtor attorney will argue any attorney fees or costs incurred as a result of a violation of the CC&Rs are not the responsibility of the debtor. This interpretation of the law would hamstring all enforcement actions that do not already comply with Idaho Code 55-115 (the fine law) by making a court unlikely to award attorney fees or costs and leaving those expenses to the association and its rule-following members.

As a result, in order to maximize the chance that an association can successfully enforce its covenants and restrictions, it must now either 1) add fines and fine power to its CC&Rs by amendment and enforce the fines pursuant to 55-115, or 2) adopt a policy that will comply with the newly-amended section of 55-115.

VF Law has developed a policy that most associations will be able to employ that permits them to enforce their covenants and restrictions and survive any challenges based on 55-115. With a review of your association’s documents and adoption of this policy, you and your manager will still be able to function with a minimal interruption of your processes.

Please call 208.629.4567 and ask for Jeremy Evans, or email him at joe@vf-law.com, for more information.